Striking in AC

With the union and casino management unable to reach a labor accord, casino workers in Atlantic City have gone on strike. From, of all places, the Toronto Star:

Front-office executives served drinks, lawyers flipped hamburgers and accountants made beds today after about 10,000 union workers went on strike at seven of Atlantic City’s casinos.

Cocktail waitresses, housekeepers, bellhops and other members of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees union walked off the job and hit the picket lines around daybreak, some in the middle of their shifts.

Dealers and others holding gambling-related jobs were not part of the dispute, and the 24-hour casinos remained open, although service was curtailed at some.

The striking workers have been without a contract since their five-year deal expired Sept. 15. They are demanding a three-year contract, protection against the use of non-union restaurant workers, and casino-funded health care.

At the Tropicana Casino and Resort, room service was cancelled, while several casinos closed restaurants because they had no one to work in them.

Timothy Wilmott, the $1.2-million-a-year chief operating officer of Harrah’s Entertainment, was pressed into duty serving water to customers at Harrah’s Atlantic City.

Harrah’s planned to fly in 300 people from Chicago and Las Vegas this weekend to spell its tired replacement workers.

Atlantic City has 12 casinos. The strike hit Bally’s Atlantic City, Caesars Atlantic City, Harrah’s Atlantic City, Showboat Hotel-Casino, the Atlantic City Hilton, Resorts Atlantic City and the Tropicana Casino and Resort.
TheStar.com - Hotel, casino workers strike in Atlantic City

Let’s hope this gets settled soon.